NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     uuencode, uudecode, b64encode, b64decode -  encode/decode  a
binary file

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     uuencode [-m] [-o output_file] [file] name
     uudecode [-cimprs] [file ...]
     uudecode [-i] -o output_file
     b64encode [-o output_file] [file] name
     b64decode [-ciprs] [file ...]
     b64decode [-i] -o output_file [file]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The uuencode and uudecode utilities are used to transmit binary files
     over transmission mediums that do not support formats  other
than printable
  ASCII data.  b64encode and b64decode are equivalent to
running
     uuencode and uudecode respectively with the -m  flag  specified.

     uuencode  reads file (or by default, the standard input) and
writes an encoded
 version to the standard output, or to  output_file  if
it has been
     specified.  The encoding uses only printing ASCII characters
and includes
     the mode of the  file  and  the  operand  name  for  use  by
uudecode.

     uudecode  transforms ``uuencoded'' files (or by default, the
standard input)
 into the original form.  The resulting  file  is  named
either name or
     (depending  on  options  passed to uudecode) output_file and
will have the
     mode of the original file except that set-user-ID  and  execute bits are
     not  retained.   uudecode  ignores  any leading and trailing
lines.

     The options for uuencode are as follows:

     -m     Use the Base64 method of encoding,  rather  than  the
traditional
            uuencode algorithm.

     -o output_file
            Output to output_file instead of standard output.

     The options for uudecode are as follows:

     -c     Decode more than one uuencoded file from file if possible.

     -i     Do not overwrite files.

     -m     When used with the -r flag, decode Base64  input  instead of traditional
  uuencode input.  Without -r it has no effect.

     -o output_file
            Output to output_file instead of  any  pathname  contained in the input
 data.

     -p     Decode file and write output to standard output.

     -r      Decode  raw  (or  broken) input which is missing the
initial and possibly
 the final framing lines.  The input is  assumed
to be in the
            traditional  uuencode encoding, but if the -m flag is
used, or if
            the utility is invoked as b64decode, then  the  input
is assumed to
            be in Base64 format.

     -s      Do  not  strip output pathname to base filename.  By
default
            uudecode deletes any  prefix  ending  with  the  last
slash '/' for security
 reasons.

EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  following example packages up a source tree, compresses
it, uuencodes
     it and mails it to a user on another system.  When  uudecode
is run on the
     target system, the file src_tree.tar.Z will be created which
may then be
     uncompressed and extracted into the original tree.

           $ tar cf - src_tree | compress  |             uuencode
src_tree.tar.Z | mail [email protected]

     The  following example unpacks all uuencoded files from your
mailbox into
     your current working directory.

           $ uudecode -c < $MAIL

     The following example extracts a compressed tar archive from
your mailbox

           $ uudecode -o /dev/stdout > $MAIL | zcat | tar xfv -

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     basename(1), compress(1), mail(1), uuencode(5)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  uudecode  and  uuencode  utilities  conform to IEEE Std
1003.2-1992
     (``POSIX.2'').

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The uudecode and uuencode utilities appeared in 4.0BSD.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Files encoded using the traditional algorithm  are  expanded
by 35% (3
     bytes become 4 plus control information).

OpenBSD      3.6                         January     27,     2002